Facebook is facing calls from an international coalition of child health advocates to abandon plans to develop a version of Instagram for Kids, the Guardian reports.
The campaign follows news in March revealing that Facebook is developing a version of Instagram specifically aimed at children under 13. Instagram's current policies prohibit children under 13 from using the platform. In an open letter organized by the nonprofit Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, dozens of groups, individual advocates, and researchers are calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to scrap the plan, arguing that it would endanger young people and cause more harm than good.
A growing body of research shows that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to adolescents. Instagram, in particular, exploits young people's fear of missing out and desire for peer approval to keep children and teens constantly checking their devices and sharing photos with their followers. The platform's relentless focus on appearance, self-expression and branding poses a challenge to adolescents' privacy and wellbeing.
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Younger children are even less developmentally equipped to deal with these challenges, as they are learning to navigate social interactions, friendships, and their internal sense of strengths and challenges during this crucial developmental window. In addition, young children are very easily persuaded by algorithmic predictions of what they might click next, and we are very concerned about how automated decision-making would determine what children see and experience on an Instagram platform for kids.
Instagram for Kids: Congressional Democrats are skeptical
The letter further argues that preschoolers who have already created an Instagram account by lying about their birthdate are unlikely to switch to a "child-friendly" version of the platform, and that the real target audience for a children's version of Instagram is a much younger cohort that doesn't currently use the platform. Last month, congressional Democrats Edward Markey, Kathy Castor, Richard Blumenthal, and Lori Trahan wrote to Zuckerberg to tell him they have "grave concerns" about his plans to create a version of Instagram for children.
Facebook has an obligation to ensure that any new platforms or projects targeting children put the best interests of those users first, and we are skeptical that Facebook is willing to fulfill that obligation.
App could undermine children's healthy development
In 2017, Facebook launched Messenger Kids, aimed at children ages 6 to 12. Following its launch, several child health advocates called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to discontinue the product, citing research that says excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens, making it very likely that this new app will undermine children's healthy development. Facebook said it consulted several experts during the development of the app, although a report by Wired later revealed that the company had financial relationships with many of the people and organizations that advised on the product. (Photo by Unsplash / Alexander Shatov)
